the cost of being the best chapter 1
by Wolf of the Crescent Moon
Summary: When the list of allies grows thin who can Kenshin and Yahiko depend on to help in this new battle?


The Cost of Being the Best

2 years after Einishi was defeated all had returned to peace; however as history repeats repeats itself life was about to move forward again. Once more team kenshin is plunged into battle. This time though some people are taken out and others are brought in. Sanosuke is in mainland China, Megumi is in Izu, Aoshi and Misao are in Kyoto. Saito's where-abouts are unknown. Kenshin is just about fresh out of allies and is thinking all fighting is done. He is wrong and fate just may not choose him this time.

Chapter 1: Showtime

Kenshin was comming back from grocery shopping and saw a note on the door. "Must be Kaoru has left for something." Kenshim uttered and he read it more closely. The basket fell on the ground and he looked up at the top of the door. There was a sword; it was his old Sakabato. (He gave his other to Yahiko) "How was it reforged!" he shouted. Yahiko ran up and saw the note. A cold sweat formed from his back as he told Kenshin he found the same note and Tsubame missing. They were supposed to meet some fighters on the east shoreline of Japan in a day. Kenshin didn't have to tell Yahiko what they were signed up for. "Yahiko, we're alone on this. We have no time to get help so we must focus. We must focus very deeply." Kenshin said.

The next day their raft that followed a river to the shoreline hit the beach early the next morning. There stood a woman covered in piercings. She smiled deeply revealing no teeth whatsoever and she had several burns on her body. "Welcome, I'm your first obstacle in this fight to win back your loved ones body's." she said. "Bodies! Are they even alive!" Yahiko yelled. Kenshin knew from the moment that he read the note they were dead. The note wouldn't been written in that style if they were alive. Kenshin sadly thought of his last embrace with Kaoru and kenji. It was storming and Kenji had come into their bed to sleep. He held Kenji tightly and Kaoru kissed him lightly and they went back to sleep. They had a quiet breakfast then Kaoru went to help Yahiko with training and. Kenji wouldn't let Kenshin give him a bath so they struck a deal. Kenshin trained Yahiko and Mommy gave him Kenji a bath. Kenshin smiled inside as he heard their laughter from a distance. Their last words were "Don't forget the milk." and Kenshin replied "I won't and walked off."

Yahiko wondered what Kenshin was thinking about and frozen. He held his head down at a slight angle and Yahiko heard the girl. "Few flashbacks? To bad, frozen in memories. I'll have to kill you fast!" she said running forward moving her arms faster than Yahiko had ever seen. Yahiko drew his blade and blocked twenty blows! He didn't even see what he was attacked with. His shirt tore slightly in several areas a few seconds later. "Wha? The sheer speed and impact!" Yahiko sputtered. Kenshin was still frozen there and she came in for an attack again. Yahiko went to block but different this time. He swung down bringing up a wall of sand and he moved back. The wall was a test to see what she attacked with and which attack patterns she used. The wall cut many times but they were small precise cuts. "She's using some kind of daggers and she moves them randomly." Yahiko anylized and leapt against the wall and dove forward. This caught her off guard as he wrapped himself into a ball slamming into her and knocking her back. "Thats not sword arts!" she sputtered sliding back in the sand. Yahiko smirked and said "Freestyle is any style I want it to be. Martial arts can be combined with sword arts you know." he said.

She looked down and her arm sleeves were slit. "I see you figured out my weapon and knew that I would be useless without arms. You really aren't that stupid." she said. "The problem is you are." he replied as Kenshin came down "HITTEN MITSURUIGI STYLE: DORYUSEN!" Kenshin yelled bringing his sword down into the earth and making little balls of rock and compact sand fly at the girl. She smiled and Yahiko caught the smirk, "What is going on? Why she smiling?" Yahiko asked. She laughed and the balls slammed into her body. Kenshin gasped as she took it head on, and then ran forward throwing daggers at Kenshin. He blocked and ran forward slicing to the right as she leapt up. Yahiko leapt up to meet her then she slapped him! He was stunned by this new tactic and she kicked him into the ground. She threw daggers down at Kenshin so he couldn't leap up at her. She landed gracefully. Yahiko's left arm fell limp immediately and he realized it was pierced with one of her rings. "Do you get it now? I've slowly trained my body to go numb. I added one ring to a every vital nerve in the body. They make the body numb without you losing movement." she said smiling again.

Yahiko tried to pulls it out but a searing pain went through his body, and he fell over coughing up blood. "Oh and since it is a vital nerve you can't touch it without it sending pain through your body. I added them slowly and allowed my body to adjust. You can move again in an hour but you can never pull the ring/rings out. Even the most advanced doctors couldn't perform surgery without killing me." she said laughing evily. Kenshin tried rushing her again. This time he was faster and merciless. He dodged everything he threw at her then flipped the blade sword over chopping off her left arm. She leapt over him and made a run at Yahiko, who ran in return at her. "No! You can't do that with one arm!" Kenshin yelled unable to turn and catch them with no traction in the sand. Yahiko wasn't fast enough and he paid the price. She ran up and dodged his swipe then kicked him down. "I knew I couldn't win but fear not. I won't kill you; however, you will pay with a big part of your life. In a blinding flash of movement Yahiko couldn't see her right arm flew. She pushed it to its full limits tearing every muscle by moving it so fast. Yahiko was kicked in the temple so he temporarily lost consiousness. Kenshin now had traction and was running at the girl but there was something different about her...her piercings were all gone! There were hundreds of holes in her body and she fell down silently, and died from pain. Yahiko was now covered in hundreds of rings as he opened his eyes. "Kenshin...I can't move anything." he muttered as Kenshin knelt down and tried to take one out. Yahiko screamed hysterically coughing up blood.

"Yahiko...you'll be able to move in an hour...but I'm afraid that women left you a curse to live on to the next generation. You will never again feel anything. Its the ultimate curse and gift...I'm so sorry I couldn't get back to help..." Kenshin said. "You're all I have left so please don't do anything to get killed or hurt." Kenshin said tears forming and Yahiko smiled. "Don't worry." he muttered and waited for an hour while Kenshin sat there.

to be continued in chapter 2.


End file.
